In fact, hoopers are so enthralled with the stuff, you'd think it was made in a secret magical forest by fairies that fart pixie dust and eat glitter for breakfast.

So what IS polypro, anyway?

Is it really magical?Is it just for "advanced hoopers" (whatever they are)?

Will you be laying on your death bed regretting that you never tried it?

No, the stakes aren't THAT dire. But I can see why you'd wonder.

And no, Polypro hoops aren't made by rainbow-colored unicorns. But the stuff IS pretty darned cool.

Let's break it down, so you can be all IN-THE-KNOW, okay?

Regular grownup hoops with tape on them are HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene).That's the heavy black tubing that's technically used for irrigation. The stuff that the very first modern hoopdancers first transformed into hula hoops thatgrown folk can actually keep up.

A Little Background

Polypro is another kind of plastic - polypropylene. It's transulcent and engineered for conducting all kinds of liquids in just about every industry. Several years ago, Carrboro NC hooper extraordinaire Spiralstarted playing around with it to see how it changed the feel of hooping.

But it was in January 2010 that Rich Porterfirst wrote about it and introduced the idea to the hooping world. He posted the first DIY instructions a month later. Looking for the "Hoop of the Future," his hope was that this new-to-hooping plastic would create cleaner, flatter planes.

Like so many really stellar ideas, Polypro hoops took off like a rocket.

They were beautifully translucent, didn't require elaborate taping, and provided a completely NOVEL experience to the hooper using them.

Here's the "Magic" Part.

It's true that Polypro is lighter than your regular hoop. But that's not what makes it desirable.You can go to a toy store and get a really light hoop, right?

Slowly, the new hooper learns to ease off a bit. The brain stops barking orders at your limbs and muscle memory takes over. The bruises disappearand the hoop DANCE begins.

Polypro is just a different animal altogether. The moves remain the same, yes. But the way that this plastic responds to those movements is so INTUITIVE that it can indeed feel like magic. It can seem as though the polypro hoop knows what you're going to do before your body tells it.

It seems that way because the response time for this particular material is so incredibly rapid, it's hard to perceive it.

What Polypro Feels Like

The experience is so hard to describe, that around here we've learned that you just have to get one of these things in your hands to get it.

When you pick up polypro for the first time, the quickest way to polypro nirvana is to try out some breaks and reversals. The difference is staggering. Where it takes some amount of force andeffort to change the direction of a taped hoop, the polypro hoop responds to a current change with just the tip of a finger.

And isolations? Yeah, it's a whole new world of ease. Hand-hooping, tosses. Oh my!

If you've got a thing for speed, polypro is the ticket, too. You don't HAVE to rock it out at lightning velocity, but if you want to, polypro is up for it.

I know, right? An afternoon adjusting to the ease of it all when soon have you believing that all youhave to do is "think" about changing the hoop's direction and it does it.

It's a little Sci-Fi, okay? I admit to thinking of me and my polypro hoop as sharing a "Borg Brain."

But I also think of the way polypro feels as a whisper. The way it floats in space like a breath or a sweet nothing whispered in your ear.

Sizing Myths Debunked

There is a common misconception that Polypro is just for people that hoop with tiny, fast hoops. And it's just not true.

Polypro offers ALL hoopers sweet, sweet lessons in a gentler, softer, quieter way of experiencing how your body moves with and inside a hoop. If you like a bigger hoop, you can get a bigger polypro. Polypro is not an exclusive club for people that dig tiny hoops.

It's for all of us. Polypro is just a wonderful and different way to experience the dance you already love.

If you're ready to try something new, dive into the magic, and get one in your eager fingertips, I can help you out right here.

Do you love polypro? Tell me about your first time playing with it. How would YOU describe it?